Michael Bialas

Back in the day when MTV actually played music videos and Rolling Stone magazine wasn't pocket-sized, a Southern California band named Lone Justice gave birth to a splendid hybrid of reckless alt-country rock.

It was 1985 when the band released their eponymous first album, which I still own on...

To celebrate the May Day online release of its fifth studio album, Supernova, Atlanta-based folk-rock-pop quartet Girlyman is offering an exclusive free download of "Empire of Our State," the album's first single that is making its premiere on my blog at The Huffington Post.

"Empire of Our State,"...

Even though she's lived and worked in Memphis since 1999, singer-songwriter-actress Amy LaVere isn't tied down to one place or, for that matter, one career.

No wonder she came up with the name for the fascinating fivesome called the Wandering.

The ambitious side project invented by...

She's vivacious and versatile, a kindred spirit with a wicked sense of humor and a knack for charming the cynic out of any jaded critic.

Yet, while still quite sprightly at age 32, a character as carefree as singer-songwriter Butterfly Boucher has the right to yearn to feel young...

Who said alternative art house rock and mosh pits don't mix?

A thinking man's -- and woman's -- band, The Joy Formidable brought its bombastic blend of muscle and bustle to North America this month. Among the jam-packed venues along the way was the Bluebird Theater in...

A pair of sisters met a pair of brothers and became four of a promising kind. Known as The Vespers, this grounded group of homegrown musicians have Nashville in their blood but down-to-earthier ideals in their souls.

Blessed with humble spirits, and songs with such emotional depth and...

Country music comes to Luke Bryan just as naturally as hunting, fishing, baseball and... spring break.

Raised to be a good ol' southern boy in the rural southern Georgia town of Leesburg, Bryan said, "My first memories of music were country music and Ronnie Milsap. Where I grew...

The party never seems to stop for always-having-a-good-time country singer Luke Bryan.

Known for such fist-pumping tunes as "Country Girl (Shake It For Me)" and "All My Friends Say," one of Nashville's hottest boy toys (sorry ladies, he's married) is on the My Kinda Party tour with fellow...

Luke Bryan is going on spring break and wants you to come along.

Of course, if you can't make it to Florida to see him perform, Bryan will have some new music to keep you warm. The fourth in a series of spring break EPs by one of...

Hopefully, the following quote didn't first appear in one of those smarmy Hallmark greeting cards, but its sentiment certainly applies to country music's latest triple threat:

"The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams and memories."

The class act formed in 2006 by singer-songwriters Charles Kelley,...

What started out as a mild infatuation developed into a deep affection. So after repeated spins of Sugar + the Hi-lows' debut album, it's time to spread a little lovin'.

With a playlist that seductively ebbs and flows, Sugar + the Hi-lows, released today (also on...

It sounds like one of those corn-pone one-liners straight out of Hee Haw.

How do you break up a happily married couple?

Make them a duo in a country band.

Of course, back in Hee Haw's heyday in the early 1980s, Keifer and Shawna Thompson were too young...

Was it worth the wait for Wilco? The answer is on the way, guaranteed to arrive a lot sooner than the band's next scheduled visit to Denver.

One of America's finest and hardest-working alternative rock/country acts is back on the road this month, resuming their tour in support of...

Remember that "If They Mated" segment on Conan O'Brien's talk show?

Well, imagine what mild-mannered Nashville singer-songwriters Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroup are capable of producing when they get together, though not in that way. After all, Dabbs already has a lovely wife, Kristen, and two young...

If life is a carnival, Sherrie Austin's career in Nashville is a three-ring circus.

Daring, unpredictable and scary, her time under the big top has had its shares of thrills and spills. But with the deft touch of a skillful acrobat who long ago overcame her fear of heights,...

While the red carpet presentations at the 34th Starz Denver Film Festival feature Oscar-worthy films with box-office potential, there are enough under-the-radar temptations to please the most critical cinephile.

With help from festival director Britta Erickson, who handicapped the Academy Award best actor race in Part 1...

George Clooney may be able to do a lot of things, but he isn't a song-and-dance man. That's unless you count his hokey hoedown and country croon as a member of the Soggy Bottom Boys in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

After beginning a mostly unremarkable TV career that included...

Inside the lithe figure and nimble fingers of a classically trained pianist, there's a rock 'n' roll guitar goddess wailing to get out.

Now, Kathryn Calder is getting her chance. Have guitar, will travel. Sure, the underrated player of Immacuate Machine and the New Pornographers will bring...

With seemingly little in common besides their indie performance aura and West Coast vibe, The Head And The Heart and Priscilla Ahn both know how to wow a crowd.

While the methods to their madness are as different as Seattle rain and L.A. sunshine, and the songs...

A country girl born and raised in the Heartland of America who grew up singing country songs is now the mother of three daughters. But the matriarch in perpetual motion otherwise known as Martina McBride is anything but a stay-at-home mom.

McBride is everywhere this month en route to...